Simmered Sea Bream with Mixed Vegetables

When you are serving the whole fish, the rule in Japanese cuisine is to place the fish's head on the left.

Simmered Sea Bream with Mixed Vegetables
Photographed by Masaya Suzuki


Recipe by
Seiko Tanishima

Difficult

Seafood

Vegetables

Beans & Tofu

460kcal

20minutes


Excludes time needed to reconstitute dried shiitake mushrooms

Ingredients (Serves 4)

  • 1 sea bream (large)
    Note

    Substitute with pigfish or bastard halibut. If you can't get hold of a whole fish, fillets will do.

  • 100 g thinly sliced pork
  • 2 tbsp naga-negi long onion (minced)
  • 1 tbsp ginger (minced)
  • 6 dried shiitake mushrooms
  • 1 boiled bamboo shoot
  • 1 pack mung bean glass noodles (100 g)
  • 1 carrot (small)
  • 1 momen-dofu
  • 1 naga-negi green onion (white section)
  • 20 snow peas
  • 1 wakegi Welsh onion
    Note

    A relative of the naga-negi, but slimmer, softer and sweeter.

  • 1/2 tsp ginger juice
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • Potato starch, as needed
  • Vegetable oil
  • 100 ml sake
  • Soy sauce
  • A dash of sesame oil

Directions

1

Cut the pork into 2-3 cm wide pieces. Soak the shiitake in water to reconstitute. Remove the stems and cut the caps into 2-3 pieces, slicing at an angle. Save the shiitake dashi. Blanch the bamboo shoots and cut into 4 cm long slices. Pour boiling water over the glass noodles to rehydrate. Cut into easy-to-eat lengths. Cut the carrot into three equal lengths and then into thin rectangles. Cut the tofu lengthwise in half and then into 5-6 cm wide slices. Cut the negi diagonally into 5 mm slices. Remove the strings from the snow peas. Cut the wakegi into 1.5 cm lengths.

2

Remove the guts, gills, fins and scales from the sea bream. Wash thoroughly and pat dry. If the flesh is thick, score the belly. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and potato starch. Heat 1 tbsp of vegetable oil in a Chinese wok and fry both sides of the fish.

3

When both sides are golden brown, place on a paper towel to remove excess oil.

4

Clean the wok with a paper towel. Heat 1 tbsp of vegetable oil and stir-fry the minced negi and ginger. When aromatic, add the pork and stir-fry.

5

Add the carrots, shiitake and bamboo shoots and continue frying.

6

Add water to the shiitake dashi to make one liter. Pour into the wok and add 100 ml of sake, 2 tsp of salt, 1/2 tbsp of soy sauce. Return the fish to the wok and bring to a gentle boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer.

7

Carefully remove the surface scum and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the tofu, negi and glass noodles. Adjust the taste by adding a little salt and 1/2 tbsp of soy sauce. Add the snow peas and sprinkle with ginger juice and sesame oil just before serving. Plate up and sprinkle with wakegi Welsh onions.